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MOOSIC — Coming off a four-game series against Norfolk in which it scored 34 runs on 53 hits, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre was relatively quiet at the plate on Saturday, collecting just five hits.

The timing of those hits, however, and a strong outing from starting pitcher Brian Gordon proved to be the difference.

Gordon threw six innings and allowed just four hits and the RailRiders got home runs from Zoilo Almonte and Adonis Garcia to defeat Toledo, 3-1, in front of 6,859 fans who also saw manager Dave Miley get inducted into the International League Hall-of-Fame prior to the game.

“The bats have been hot and a lot of times, they come in bunches and the numbers keep piling up on the scoreboard,” Gordon said. “(Saturday) it was timely hitting, and that’s awesome, too. They’re certainly executing with the bats and it’s contagious for (our staff). It puts us in a position where we just want to work for them.

“We know if we can just go out there and execute, eliminate some runs, we’re going to be in a good spot.”

The RailRiders got on the board in the bottom of the first when Almonte took Derek Hankins’ two-out, 2-1 delivery deep over the right field wall for his team-leading eighth home run of the season, giving the RailRiders a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the second with one out, Corban Joseph’s liner fell just in front of right fielder Ben Guez’s feet for a single. After Austin Romine flew out to deep right, shortstop Carmen Angelini ripped a line drive that just touched the left field foul line and rolled into the corner.

Joseph came all the way around first to score, Angelini was on second with a double and the RailRiders had a 2-0 lead.

Gordon was cruising along to start for the RailRiders. After issuing a leadoff walk to Ezequiel Carrera, Gordon retired 14 straight Mud Hens until Trevor Crowe singled to left with two outs in the fifth. Crowe then attempted to steal second, but Romine threw a laser to Joseph, who got the tag down just in time for the third out of the inning.

Toledo would finally solve Gordon in the sixth, but not before center fielder Antoan Richardson made the play of the night.

Luis Exposito drilled Gordon’s 2-2 delivery deep to center. Richardson gave chase to it all the way to the warning, leaped and made the catch just before crashing into the wall for the out.

“That was a phenomenal play,” Gordon said. “It was probably one of the best I’ve ever seen.”

After another flyout to Richardson, Carrera and Hernan Perez followed with back-to-back singles. Three pitches later, Tyler Collins hit a single of his own to left, scoring Carrera from second and cutting the deficit to one.

That would be the only damage done to Gordon, as he got Guez to harmlessly ground out to third to end the inning and his night.

“I felt really good out there,” Gordon said. “I felt like I was commanding the baseball well. That’s the key. I was able to settle down after the first couple batters and kind of felt that rhythm and kind of just went with it.

“The pitches were executed, and I’ll tell you, the plays were made behind me. It was a great feeling watching this team work tonight.”

The RailRiders got an insurance run in the form of Adonis Garcia in the eighth inning. Leading off the inning, Garcia drilled Blaine Hardy’s 0-1 delivery deep to left center field into the RailRiders’ bullpen for his fifth homer of the year, giving his team a 3-1 lead.

Preston Claiborne came on in the ninth to try and close it out for the RailRiders. Guez led off with a single, bringing the potential tying run in Wade Gaynor to the plate. But he fouled out on the first pitch to third baseman Zelous Wheeler.

After Claiborne struck out Jordan Lennerton, Trevor Crowe hit a broken bat grounder to Angelini, who initially looked to flip the ball to second for the force out. But after seeing that he didn’t have a play, Angelini went to first to barely get Crowe for the game’s final out.

“It was good to win a close game,” Miley said. “The pitching staff was a big key of it, a couple nice plays in the field and the two home runs were good. Nice win, overall.”

Contact the writer: shennigan@timesshamrock.com

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